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Sunday, 17 June 2012

INS Arihant undergoes sea acceptance trials

In a major step towards achieving allround
ability to launch nuclear payload from air, land and water, a miniature
83 MWe pressurised water reactor (PWR), was fitted into INS Arihant and
trials were conducted.The PWR is fuelled by highly-enriched uranium,
which was developed with the help of Russians. The submarine was
launched into the water last year and began its ‘sea acceptance trials’
(SAT) earlier this year wherein it was taken out of the harbour to
conduct crucial trials.

“The nuclear reactor was fitted into the submarine for the first time
some time back. Since it is the first time that India has built a
miniature nuclear reactor for moving platform, it has to be tested when
the submarine undergoes various kinds of motion like rolling and
pitching,” sources said.

The challenge for Bhabha Atomic Research Centre was to make a compact
reactor to fit into the 10-m diameter hull of INS Arihant (literally
meaning slayer of enemies). The enriched uranium for the reactor comes
from the Rare Materials Project, an undertaking of the Department of
Atomic Energy, situated at Ratnahallai, near Mysore. With INS Arihant,
India has become the sixth country after the US, Russia, China, France
and Britain to have succeeded in constructing a nuclear submarine.

At the end of the trial Arihant will be given a nuclear regulatory
authority certification before it could be deployed in the open
oceans.As India has a policy of ‘no first use’ of nuclear weapons, a
robust and survivable retaliatory strike capability is dependent on this nuclear-powered submarine. This makes Arihant a shot
in the arm for India’s nuclear triad. With its ability to remain
submerged in the waters for infinite time, Arihant with its stealth can
remain undetected by the army and can fire its nuclear-tipped missiles
from under the sea.

Arihant will be armed with 12 nuclear-tipped submarine launched missile K-15 with a range of 750 km. Plans are afoot to equip it with four K-4 Submarine Launched Ballistic Missiles (SLBMs) with a range of 3,500 km later. Presently, the K-4 is under-development.

With Indian Navy’s submarine fleet down to 14, a major overhaul is the need of the hour especially when compared to neighbouring China that is known to operate 8-10 nuclear powered submarines and 50-60 conventional ones.